Disclaimer: I do not own the story of Hakuoki or its (incredibly attractive) characters. This story is written purely for enjoyment and no profit whatsoever.

Author's Note: Hello, everyone! Long time, no see. I recently got my hands on this lovely visual novel and thought I'd pay tribute to my favourite member of the Shinsengumi thus far. I feel the game itself could have done him a bit more justice; as a warrior he was very passionate about the path he walked in life. It's a shame we didn't get to see that same passion turned to the protagonist over the course of their story. So, this is just my take on how things could have played out a bit differently. Without further ado, please enjoy!

{A Promise of Forever}

I made my way through the quiet corridors, stepping carefully along the rich wood panels so as not to disturb those who may have already been sleeping in their rooms. Throughout my time with the Shinsengumi captains, I had learned to carry the tea tray with carefully practiced silence. I sighed inaudibly at the thought, Is brewing tea really all that I'm good for in this house?

I saw the faintest glow from ahead, escaping from the crack of my target's doorway. I approached cautiously – wanting neither to disturb him terribly, or to catch him entirely unaware. As it seemed to always be lately, I felt as though each step I took was balanced on the razor sharp edge of one of the captains' swords. A single misstep and everything would be over before I could even cry out in surprise. It had gotten easier for us all, though only for a short while. I had proven myself useful in battles with the ability to pass messages without attracting the suspicion of others; my ability to follow orders and rely on the men who had sworn to protect me also seemed to have put their minds at ease.

My willingness to help with menial tasks like cleaning, preparing meals, and bringing them tea to relax certainly hadn't hurt matters, either. No, I could tell the men no longer saw me as quite the unwelcome burden I had been when I had first met them. My existence was no longer the cause of their unease. So much had happened since I had travelled to Kyoto in search of my father. Not only between me and my new, pseudo-family, but across the entire country. I had never paid a lot of attention to politics when I was younger, so it was difficult to follow now. Instead I found myself following the chief, commander, and captains of the Shinsengumi, as I knew they understood it all much better than I could.

They were all the family I had now, after all. I had learned only days before that the man I had always called my father, the man who I had travelled so far from home to find, the man who had helped the Shinsengumi develop the ochimizu – he was an imposter. No, that man, Kodo, was not my father.

I sighed softly as I finally reached the door I'd been moving toward, knowing it was quiet enough not to disturb the others. Okita had been moved to Sendagaya. Sanan and Heisuke were certainly already on patrol with the Rasetsu Corps this late at night. And a few days prior Hijikata and Kondou had left to meet with a vassal of the Shogunate in another city. Suddenly I felt rather silly for trying to be so stealthy, as the realization hit that Saitou and I were very much alone in this part of the inn. Certain that my sigh had been enough to alert him to my presence, I gently opened the door to his room.

He'd been under a great deal of stress lately, holding down the inn during the day – working while the sun was up despite the pain it brings him as a rasetsu. I hadn't yet been able to convince him to rest during the day, though he wouldn't tell me why his work couldn't simply wait until nightfall when it would take less of a toll on his body. I was worried, but I knew nothing I could say would change his mind. It was his way as a warrior to stick to the path he felt to be right; so I did the only thing I could to help. I brought him tea.

I tried to keep my sigh noiseless as I softly shut the door behind me; not wanting to bother Saitou any more than necessary. He was just where I had expected him to be, stationed at his writing desk. He was bent over it, feverishly writing, not even turning to me when I entered. I slowly approached him, and set the tea tray on the edge of the table, "Saitou-san, I brought some tea for you to relax. It's best if you drink it while it's warm."

But he still didn't pay me any mind. Strange; Saitou was a man of few words, but he would usually acknowledge me with a glance or grunt. Although he was quiet, he had always been very considerate of me and my feelings. Yet now he simply continued, his body shaking slightly with the intensity of his rapid writing. I had stood, meaning to brush off his behavior and exit quickly so as not to disturb him further. It seemed his task was incredibly important if he were so absorbed in it and I would only get in the way. I wish I weren't so useless and could help relieve his burdens somehow… As I reached the door, I turned to give him one last glance in the dim candlelight.

Wait…something's not quite right. I realized he wasn't bent over his desk, muscles moving from working the brush across the page. No, now that I looked more closely, it appeared more that he was hunched over and his whole body was trembling! "Saitou-san…!"

I gave myself only a moment to hesitate and pray my conclusion about his condition was incorrect. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind, however, that his hair slowly began to lighten from its deep indigo to a pale white. I didn't even have to think. As I rushed back to his side, I slid my kodachi from its scabbard and prepared to run it across my skin. The sound of the blade's metal leaving its sheath caught his attention, and suddenly his red eyes turned to me. My heart broke at the pain and despair in them, "Saitou-san…" I knew he preferred not to give in to the pull of the monster within, but I also knew that the pain was greater than anything I could imagine if I could see it etched so visibly on his face.

There was so little I could do for the Shinsengumi. I felt so useless to them every day. I wanted – no, I needed – to do what was in my power to help them. To help him. "Errgh-no…guuh!" his low voice warned me to stay back as best he could between clenched teeth and gasps of pain. I simply lowered myself to my knees in front of him; I could feel the tears prickling my eyes.

"Saitou-san, please…" My voice wavered with emotion, but I held his gaze, determined to convey how sure I was of my words and actions. "You're hurting, and I can help. Please… let me help… it's the least I can do for you…" He seemed on the verge of refusing, so I hurried to continue in my plea to make him see reason. "You need your strength, and for that you need blood. Because I am a demon, my blood is the most logical choice – it will help you stay stronger, for longer! I'll heal as soon as you're finished anyway. So, please, Saitou-san!"

My words finally seemed to sway him, or perhaps the agony had become too much to bear, as he nodded almost imperceptibly. His eyes were squeezed shut and his breathing ragged; I could tell he was forcing himself not to cry out in pain again. Hoping to relieve him quickly, I drew my blade across my earlobe and turned my head so that it was next to his mouth. He laid a shaky hand on the opposite side of my neck and drew me to him, shifting my weight so that I was partially in his lap. I shivered, though whether it was from the cool night air, or the feeling of his lips and tongue on my ear I wasn't certain.

I knew it had been affecting him strongly, as he drank for a long while. At one point, his other hand snaked around my waist, drawing me the rest of the way into his lap so he could have better access to the cut. Slowly, I felt the wound seal, but his lips and tongue did not leave my lobe. His breathing was no longer ragged, but I could tell it was still shaky. "Oh, it's closed…" I could not hide the slight tremor to my voice as well; I felt my heartbeat rise to my throat. "Do I need to make another, Saitou-san, so that you can drink more?"

I moved to turn my head and look at him, but his left hand had snaked up to the back of my head while he drank and so he held me in place; his grip on my waist with his right hand tightened as well. His lips moved from my lobe to the soft skin of my neck behind it. I felt a dizzying shiver of excitement erupt from my navel and heard a small whimper escape my own lips before I could stop it. The heat of blush crept up my cheeks in embarrassment, but still he didn't stop.

My heart was racing; I felt a pull of untapped desire erupt within me from the way he was kissing down my neck. His voice was low and husky as he spoke my name, "Yukimura..." I felt him loosen my collar as he continued to kiss and suck the sensitive skin below my ear. I shuddered again at the feeling of his hot breath when he spoke, "Thank you…"

I could not help another whimper issuing from my lips. My heart felt so full I thought it might burst; to hear that he appreciated my gesture and did not hate me for forcing him to drink my blood. Butterflies seemed to be at war in my abdomen, and I could feel the heat of a blush flooding every pore and nerve-ending, radiating from where his lips and tongue were suckling me. "Saitou-san…" I was surprised to hear that my own voice sounded thick with lust; I squeezed his thigh upon which my hand had been resting, wanting desperately to hold him as he was me.

I felt, more than heard, the husky groan that he released in response before he slowly lowered me down to the tatami. For a moment, we simply stared at each other, panting softly in the dimly flickering candlelight. I was glad to see his hair and eyes had returned to their normal coloring, but was shocked to see the number of emotions flashing through his gaze as he regarded me, an unreadable look in his eyes. He seemed to be searching my face just as thoroughly as I was searching his. Suddenly, I felt naked beneath his intense stare; I knew I was not the type who could hide my own feelings well. Just as I was about to avert my eyes for fear he would not like what he discovered there, it seemed he found the answer for which he had been searching.

He lifted a tender hand to my cheek and softly caressed it with his thumb; his eyes were locked onto mine as he brought his face closer. I shuddered in anticipation, finally recognizing the question he was asking. My eyes gently drifted shut in answer; immediately his lips found my own. The fiery passion with which he had been kissing my ear and neck seemed to have cooled to a smolder, as his soft lips worked against mine in a slow burn. In his kiss I realized all his unspoken feelings which matched my own for him. Like a gradual ache, he deepened the kiss, teasingly working back up to the fever which had gripped him before.

I gasped when his tongue flicked out to breach the gap between my lips, and found my own passion ignited in response. I clung desperately to the fabric of his shirt; I couldn't stop the small moans that escaped from my throat. But with each one, I could feel him unravel that much more. Eventually we had to come up for air, and he turned his attentions to my neck again with a low moan in my ear. One hand gripped my hip, while the other loosened my lapel further to expose my shoulders and collarbone. I merely mewled in pleasure as he explored every inch of my bare skin with his lips and tongue.

Trails of fire seemed to follow the path his lips made as he desperately worked to expose more of my skin for his mouth to study. I fumbled with the buttons on his clothes so that my hands could do the same to his body. I was distracted from my goal momentarily when I suddenly felt the flick of his tongue on the swollen flesh of my breast; a throaty moan left my lips as I arched my back into his caresses.

In a haze of dizzying pleasure, the two of us worked together to undress the other. My feelings for the man straddling me welled up and exploded out in a need to make him feel what I held for him in my heart. Looking into his eyes, I knew without a doubt that his affections mirrored my own. He was exposing himself to me as much as I was to him. Because of that, I felt no regret in baring myself to him fully: body, mind, and soul.

His arms held me tenderly and he swallowed my moans of pleasure-pain with his lips as our bodies finally joined. My eyes filled with tears of happiness at the love which filled my heart, and he patiently kissed each of them away. As always, he was accommodating and kind in his own silent way, waiting as long as I needed for my body to adjust to the feeling of him inside of me.

Finally feeling ready as the ache receded and was replaced with a pleasure I never knew to exist, I boldly wrapped my arms about his neck and brought his lips to mine, conveying all that was in my heart and soul to him. His courage reignited by the passion behind my actions, he slowly began to move. Soon the night filled with our quiet moans and cries of pleasure as our bodies moved together as one. The butterflies within me had exploded and the sensations coursing through my veins were better likened to fire and lightning now.

He growled above me with each plunge, and I drank in the look in his eyes, pleased to know I was capable of making him feel this way. Happy to know I could make him feel such strong desire for me. Elated that it was not only a physical connection we were sharing now. I could tell the pleasure was beginning to overtake him, as his fervor increased wildly. Never one to think only of himself, though, he zealously caressed my neck and chest with one hand while snaking the other one between my legs near where our bodies were so intimately connected. His fingers played across my most sensitive areas in time with his impassioned thrusts, and the lightning crackled more fiercely within me.

I couldn't stop the sensual cries escaping at the new sensations he inspired in me. "Aah… oh!" I fully surrendered myself to his ministrations, to him, and I found myself tipping over the edge. My voice rang out in a throaty moan, lights exploded behind my eyelids, and I felt my whole body tense and flood with pleasure I'd never known could exist. Soon after, he followed me with a desperate cry of his own, "Oh, Chizuru!"

For a long while after, we merely held each other close, our bodies still entangled with a light sheen of sweat covering our skin. Then he slowly rolled over onto his side, one arm staying securely about my waist, and gazed at me with what I could only interpret as love; I had never felt more beautiful.

Oh, Saitou…no, Hajime-san… I sighed serenely as I languidly blinked over at him, already feeling sleep seeping into my bones. With a smile, I noticed he seemed just as relaxed. Perhaps I've finally found a way to make him rest…

As if he could read my thoughts, he took that moment to lean forward and kiss me softly. This kiss wasn't rife with desperation like the first, or even passion like the second. Instead, this was a kiss filled with promise. And in that moment, I knew I would be his forever. No matter what obstacles lay ahead of us; no matter the odds against us. As long as I could be at his side, we would make it through.

Author's Note: This is my first time writing anything of this particular nature, so please bear that in mind when reviewing. Otherwise, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Do you like it? Love it? Hate it? Please tell me why! I absolutely love constructive criticism, and perhaps I could be inspired to write more stories if I receive enough feedback.